Oh, good thread, folks.
Lucy, delighted to see you back, Sweetie!
I have never heard juring for during--how in the world could anyone get to that transition, anyway?? I have also never heard during as derring. Daring is "derring". (By the way, why is derring-do always written that way, and not as daring-do?)
Some of the differences in syllable stress are regional in the U.S.--we in the South tend to "firstify" things: DE-fense sounds fine to me, as does IN-surance, though both are also heard here with the accent on the second sylLAble(hi, tsuwm). People from a bit further north and east of here (upstate Ohio, etc.) also have a pronunciation of long o that sounds odd to me--a very quick ee sound, almost: hyome, slyow. Hmm--now that I'm trying to hear it in my head, I'm thinking it's more of an "a" sound, and I can't write it for the life of me.
I'll throw in my primary screaming-down-the-street one again: Antartica. Question: does anyone pronounce Wednesday any way other than Wens-day?
